From 1984 to 1987, with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon, Chagas Rosa studied Contemporary Piano and Chamber Music with Alexander Hrisanide at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.
In 1989, being invited by the dance group Dansproductie of Amsterdam, he performed music by John Cage for prepared piano in many Dutch cities as well as in London, Mulhouse and Ghent.
In 1994, the ACARTE department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation commissioned him with the composition of the chamber opera "Canticles for the remission of hunger", upon a libretto by the Portuguese writer Paulo Lages.
His works have been performed in several modern music festivals in Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the US, Macau and Hong-Kong, etc.
António Chagas Rosa's latest opera - Melodias Estranhas - upon a libretto by the Dutch writer Gerrit Komrij, was the result of a joint commission made by the cities of Oporto and Rotterdam, European Capital of Culture in 2001.